¡Bienvenidos a Español en mi entorno!

This book has been designed for Spanish language learners in the Great Plains region of the United States. With it, you will explore the intersection between these lands and the Hispanic world while developing Spanish communication skills at the Intermediate-Mid to Intermediate-High proficiency, following ACTFL language descriptions. The book is divided into four units, plus a preliminary unit, the contents and objectives for each are presented below.

Unidad preliminar

The Unidad preliminar will help to prepare you to engage meaningfully with course content by presenting information on how to set goals for yourself and establish practical habits to support you in achieving those goals.

Objetives for the preliminary unit:

• I can articulate my learning goals in Spanish.
• I can identify and describe the process of establishing new habits.

Unidad 1: Los pasatiempos para un mundo mejor

The first unit of this course will guide you in developing rich descriptions of people, places, objects, and activities in Spanish while exploring how people throughout the world use their favorite pastimes to make the world a better place.

Objetives for Unit 1:

• I can understand key aspects of written and spoken descriptions of people, places, objects, and activities in Spanish.
• I can understand discussions about social issues and why they are important to someone.
• I can exchange information about personal interests and preferences.
• I can ask follow-up questions to learn more about a person, place, object, or activity.
• I can describe a person, place, object, or activity that represents a value I hold.
• I can explain the connection between my value(s) and the person, place, object, or activity I described.
• In my own and other cultures, I can compare how people use their pastimes to address social issues.
• I can identify and express evaluative criteria for a descriptive text.

Unidad 2: La historia de mi tierra

In the second unit, we will examine history and legends that connect the Great Plains and the Spanish-speaking world from the early Spanish explorers to the Old West to 20th century baseball players and beyond! While we uncover these stories, we will be cultivating competencies in relating historical, personal, and fictitious events.

Objetives for Unit 2:

• I can usually follow the main story and actions expressed in various time frames in a fictional text.
• I can understand key historical events in spoken and written informational texts.
• I can exchange information with a partner to organize a timeline of events.
• I can participate in discussions about the presence of Spanish in the United States in the early days of European exploration.
• I can tell a simple story about a childhood memory or recent event.
• I can produce a written narrative about an event from my past using a few short paragraphs.
• In my own and other cultures, I can identify cultural values expressed in storytelling.
• I can identify and express key characteristics and evaluative criteria for a narrative text.

Unidad 3: La industria y el comercio en las Grandes Llanuras

The third unit provides an opportunity for research examining and explaining how industry and commerce connect the Great Plains to the Spanish-speaking world today by exploring topics such as sister cities, medical interpretation, and immigrant labor in the agricultural industry. We explore strategies, expressions, and linguistic structures to present information clearly and concisely in Spanish.

Objetives for Unit 3:

• I can usually follow the main message in various time frames in straightforward and sometimes descriptive, informational texts.
• I can understand some facts and data reported in an informational text about commerce and industry in the Great Plains.
• I can exchange information with my peers about the challenges experienced by the Latino community in specific areas of the Great Plains region.
• I can respond to information presented by my peers by asking follow-up questions.
• I can write an brief informative report about a topic I have researched related to industry/commerce in the Great Plains and Spanish-speaking communities.
• In my own and other cultures, I can compare how industry affects communities.
• I can identify and express key characteristics and evaluative criteria of an expository text.

Unidad 4: El multilingüismo y el futuro

In the final unit, we will explore changing demographics and language use in the United States today by examining trends in Spanish use in the United States, language policies, and bilingual education. As you learn to discuss these issues, you will have an opportunity to develop skills and strategies to express opinions, communicate conditional and hypothetical situations, and support our ideas with evidence in Spanish.

Objetives for Unit 4:

• I can understand the stance and main arguments of a written text about language use in the United States.
• I can understand basic facts about changing demographics in spoken Spanish.
• I can participate in discussions about language attitudes and policies in the United States.
• I can exchange and justify opinions about language use in public spaces.
• I can present my predictions about the future of Spanish in the United States.
• I can write a brief statement outlining my stance on a linguistic issue and support it with data.
• In my own and other cultures, I can compare arguments for and against official languages.
• I can identify and express key characteristics and evaluative criteria of an argumentative text.

Except where other terms are specified, this book and the materials presented within it are distributed under Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).